Safe With Us
by OmegaWolfStories
Summary: After Lee's Death, Clementine is all alone and terrified. That is until Rick and Daryl find her decide to take her back to the prison. However, after the incident with the stranger, Clem has trouble trusting these new people, only turning to Glenn as a brother figure. Will she cope in this new group? And with the Governor still at large, things are looking pretty dangerous for her.
1. Lost and Found

**Chapter One – Lost and Found. **

Her heart almost stopped as she gazed up at the horizon. Silhouetted against the setting sun, were two shadows making their way over the field. She gripped the gun tightly in her tiny, quaking hands and mentally readied herself to use it if need be. She was torn, should she risk the danger and call out to them for help or should she run in the opposite direction ? She thought about the time she was taken by a stranger and how he had locked her in a closet, all because she had trusted him. She thought about how Lee had been bitten by those…things…all because he was looking for her. She thought about how she had to put him down before he turned, it killed her inside…

At only 9-years-of-age, Clementine had seen more than her fair share of violence and it had definately taken its toll on the scared little girl. She so wanted to run up to those shadows, she desperately yearned for their companionship as she was terrified of spending the night alone. Sure she'd managed to do it before back in her tree house but out in the open she felt far more vulnerable.

She gripped the gun even tighter and pulled herself off of the log she had been resting on and forced herself to her feet. She took a couple of steps forward but stopped herself after a few seconds. She couldn't do it…she was far too anxious about the whole thing. They must have been bad people, they were strangers after all, or were they? From that distance they could've even been walkers, she couldn't tell.

Suddenly, she noticed that two figures were getting closer…faster…scarier…

Panicking, she ran away as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, still holding the gun in her hand. As she ran, she looked over her shoulder to see if she had put enough distance between her and the strangers, only to see that they were catching up to her rapidly. She ducked behind a growth of bushes that was on the side of the dirt road she had been running along and hid amongst the thorny branches and leaves. The strangers were close enough for her to hear them now; they were both males who sounded as if they were in their mid-to-late thirties.

"You sure you saw somethin'?" asked one, who was wearing a sleeveless vest and was carrying a large, intimidating crossbow.

"It was a kid. A little girl, I'm sure I saw her…" the other one, who looked as if he was dressed as a police officer, replied.

Clementine was physically and emotionally drained at this point. She began to panic and fidget around in the bush, causing the branches to scratch against her skin which caused nasty little scratches on her face. She whimpered in discomfort which seemed to attract the attention of the two strange men.

"You hear that?" said the man with the crossbow as he glanced over at the bush "In there."

He began to rummage through the bush, causing her to panic even more. She went as low as she possibly could in order to avoid being discovered but she knew that she was only delaying the inevitable; he was bound to find her sooner or later. Gripping the gun in her hands once more she pulled the trigger, sending the bullet straight into the man's foot with a loud _BANG!_

"ARGH! SON OF A BITCH!" howled the man as he fell to the floor, still gripping his injured foot.

"Shit! Daryl! You okay?" fretted the other man as he rushed to his companion's side.

They didn't seem like bad people…still she knew she couldn't take any chances. Swallowing all of her fear and readying her gun for another shot, she forced herself to stand up whilst pointing the gun directly at the two men.

"Goddammit Rick! She has a gun!"

Rick was shocked at the appearance of this young child who was aiming her weapon directly at his head. Her pink hoodie was covered in blood, her face covered in scratches which were clearly from the thorns in the bush and her arms and legs were shaking like leaves on a brittle branch. Seeing how clearly terrified she was he decided to be as calm as he could so as not to freak her out any more than she clearly already was.

"Hello." He said with a friendly but forced smile "You okay out here by yourself?"

As he spoke she continued to point the gun directly at his head.

"Put down the gun, okay sweet-pea?"

His voice was reassuring, and he called her "sweet-pea", the nickname that Lee gave to her. She so wanted to trust this man but she still felt cautious.

"J-j-j-just go away!" she stuttered as terrified tears began to fill her big, brown eyes. "Leave m-me alone!"

"We're not gonna hurt you" Rick said, still smiling "We just want to help you."

As he spoke he inched a little closer to her. Daryl was still gripping onto his foot, writhing in pain.

"We got a group!" he said painfully "We can take care of you!"

"Are you by yourself?" asked Rick as, once again, he inched a little closer.

She said nothing; she simply nodded in response to Rick's question.

As Rick tried to reason with the armed little girl, Daryl, despite the pain shooting through his foot, managed to hobble behind Clementine without her noticing. His plan was to grab her from behind and get the gun out of her hands, maybe then she'd be easier to reason with. Noticing what Daryl was doing, Rick decided to distract her with more questions.

"What's your name?" he asked her

"C-Clementine…" she whimpered, she still didn't trust this strange man fully.

Meanwhile, Daryl was getting closer.

"That's a pretty name. How old are you, Clementine?"

"I'm 9"

Slowly, she began to feel herself trusting this man more and more. He seemed kind and rather fatherly, much like Lee was, and maybe this stranger even had children of his own. Feeling more at ease, she carefully lowered her gun but as she did, Daryl came from behind and grabbed her, picking her up from the ground and causing her to drop her gun. Panicking, she began kicking and waving her arms violently.

"No! Let me go!" she screamed

"Let's get her to the car." Rick said hastily as he picked the gun up off of the floor.

On that note, they carried the terrified child back to the silver Hyundai they had parked on a secluded dirt road, far from the view of anyone who would want to hijack it. They opened the left rear door and placed Clementine gently on the back seat. Still panicking, Clementine pounded on the back window with her fist, as if she was desperately trying to shatter the glass. Rick got behind the wheel and Daryl climbed into the passenger seat, worried about how much noise the child was making, they tried to calm her down.

"Clementine, it's okay." Rick said softly as they began to drive "We're gonna take you some place safe, it's okay."

As they drove, Clementine could feel her heart bashing against her chest. She lay down, rested her head and curled up into a trembling, little ball. Daryl glanced back at her, his heart almost melting at the pitiful sight. He felt bad for her but he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

"You really think she was by herself?" She asked Rick "I mean, we might have just kidnapped her."

"Look at her clothes…there's blood all over her." Rick answered. As he spoke, he could hear Clementine sobbing softly to herself. "She's lost someone for sure…"

**AUTHOURS NOTE: Well, started another fanfic. (couple this one with the 5 that I still haven't finished and you can clearly see I have punctuality issues) I just finished playing through the game (and I cried like a baby!) and I just liked the idea of the game and the tv series overlapping so…yeah that's how this fail-of-a-fic came to be :) I hope you enjoyed it so far :) Thank you for reading :)**


	2. You're Safe Now

**Chapter Two – You're Safe Now. **

The prison could be seen in the distance. Clementine was still curled up in a shivering little ball on the back seat of the car, her heart racing with fear and anticipation. What would this group of survivors be like? Would they be kind and loving like Lee? Brave and headstrong like Kenny? Or…maybe even scary and mean like the stranger… With all these thoughts rushing around her head she felt physically sick. She could hear the two men talking in the front.

"Okay, Clementine." Rick said in a friendly, almost comforting voice "here we are!"

Curiosity getting the better of her, she peered out of the window. As they pulled up to the gate she saw a young boy, about 13-years-old and wearing a brown sheriff's hat, opening the gate to let the car pass through safely. Once they were inside, she saw him quickly shut the gate behind them which was obviously to prevent any nearby walkers getting in. _At least it looks safe…_she thought to herself. As they drove into the prison's complex, Clementine could see people, lots of people, talking and laughing as if they were almost happy. There were even children! Whole families still intact. This made her smile slightly.

"Th-there are kids here!" she gasped

"Yep. They came to us when we saved them from…"

Rick hesitated.

"A bad man." Added Daryl

Their reply made her feel more at ease. If they'd helped so many people they couldn't be bad men. Still that being said, she still felt a little anxious. The car came to a stop and Rick and Daryl climbed out of the car. Clementine hesitated a bit, not wanting to leave the safety of the back seat. Rick opened the door which made her shuffle to the other side of the seat in a desperate attempt to keep him away.

"Come on sweetie." He beckoned her softly as he held his hand towards her "You'll be alright I promise."

Clem said nothing, she simply shook her head.

"Want me to find something to coax her out?" asked Daryl

Rick nodded. On that note, Daryl limped into the prison, the gunshot wound in his foot still throbbing. Sensing that she was clearly terrified, Rick decided to talk with Clementine to keep her calm and to get to know where she'd come from and why she was alone out in the field. He smiled gently as he kneeled next to the seat, not taking his eyes off of her.

"You okay in there?" he smiled

She said nothing.

"Were you always by yourself out there?" he asked her "Or is your family still hiding out somewhere?"

"My…" she fought back her tears "Mom and Dad are…walkers now."

Ricks heart melted. He knew how it felt to lose loved ones. After the death of his wife, Lori, he'd never been quite the same.

"So you were all by yourself?"

Feeling herself choking up with emotion, she couldn't help but want to talk about Lee.

"There was…a nice man who took care of me." She whimpered as tears began to flow down her cheeks. "And there was a family with a little boy…and a nice couple who were really funny sometimes…but they're…they're all…"

Without warning, she burst into tears, crying harder than she'd ever cried before. Rick felt so bad for this poor little girl. He wanted to scoop her up and give her a hug but he knew that might freak her out even more. He could only offer words of condolences.

"Baby, I'm sorry. So, so sorry." He sighed sadly.

She carried on crying as she once again curled up into a shivering little ball.

Just then, Rick could hear footsteps behind him. He turned to see Glenn and Maggie walking towards him.

"Hey. My dad's taking a look at that bullet hole in Daryl's foot so we came out here to help." Said Maggie "What's going on?"

"We found a little girl out in the middle of nowhere" answered Rick as he pulled himself to his feet. "She's scared to death and she won't get out of the car."

Clementine laid there on the back seat, still sobbing as she listened to the voices outside when suddenly, something snapped her out of her grief. Amongst the other voices outside, she heard a familiar one.

"She was all by herself? That's horrible…" said the voice.

All at once, her hear began to thump once again. She knew that voice…It was the voice of that young man she lent her walkie-talkie to, the one she had met in Lee's parent's drug store. Feeling scared and vulnerable, she felt relieved to hear a familiar voice. She sat up and crawled to the open car door, only to peek outside to make sure it was indeed him. Her eyes widened as she saw him standing there. He looked back at her with an equally surprised look on his face.

"Clementine?!" he gasped

"G-Glenn…" she couldn't hold her emotions back any longer. "GLENN!"

She leapt out of the car with incredible force and ran to hug him, almost knocking him down in the process. He was speechless. How had she survived this long? It was almost a year ago since he last saw her; in fact he was rather shocked that she still remembered him. The first thought that popped into his head was why was she alone? Where were Lee and the others? Rick looked at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"You guys know each other?" he asked Glenn

"Y-yeah barely…" replied Glenn "Before you joined up with us back in Atlanta, I went to down to Macon to see if I could get any supplies and I got stranded in a drug store with another group. She was with them"

"The poor thing, she came all the way from Macon?!" gasped Maggie

Glenn knelt down to Clementine's level, gripped both of her hands gently and looked her dead in the face. Her eyes were all red and puffy, and her cheeks looked sore from all the tears.

"You okay Clem?" he asked.

She looked up at him and noticed he had a small but noticeable scar on the side of his face, next to his right eye.

"Your eye looks sore…" she said sadly

"Don't worry about me, what matters is that _you're _okay" Glenn smiled as he wiped a stray tear off of her cheek "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head.

"That's good…come here…" he smiled as he pulled her in for a hug.

She felt a lot safer now that Glenn was there, having someone she knew really helped to calm her down. She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed quietly into his shirt. Maggie smiled as she watched her fiancé comfort the child. She knelt down to their level and placed her hand softly on Clementine's back, causing her to flinch slightly. Releasing her from the hug, Glenn put his arm lovingly around Maggie.

"Clementine, this is Maggie." He smiled "my fiancé."

"It's really nice to meet you, Clementine" smiled Maggie as she held her hand out, inviting Clem to shake her hand.

Clementine felt a little wary but she smiled and shook Maggie's hand anyway. She figured that if Glenn liked her she must be a nice person. Maggie noticed some scratches on Clementine's hands as she caressed them.

"Th-they're from a bush I was hiding in!" Clementine panicked, she didn't want anyone to think a walker had got a hold of her. "I wasn't scratched by a walker! I promise!"

Noticing how terrified she was, Glenn pulled her back in for another hug.

"We know Clem, we know!" he shushed as her rubbed her back "it's okay, it's okay."

"We need to get her inside." Said Rick "Maggie, we just need to check her over for any injuries, you think you can run ahead and let your dad know?"

Maggie Nodded in agreement and ran back into the prison.

"C'mon Clementine, let's get you checked out" Rick smiled

As soon as Glenn clambered to his feet, Clementine gripped onto his arm as tight as she could.

"C-can I stay with Glenn?" she asked.

"Of course you can, sweetie."

Glenn lifted Clementine into his arms and began to carry her into the prison.

"It's okay Clem, you're safe now." He smiled

Safe…she'd been waiting to hear that word for ages. She felt a little better now she was with someone she knew; still…the memory of Lee was still fresh in her mind. She felt happy that she was safe but…at the same time she felt terrible that Lee wasn't safe with her…

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another Chapter done :) I don't know what I'm doing starting a new walking dead fic when my other one needs to be finished :P (I'll get on to that tonight) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading :)**


	3. Bad Thoughts

**Chapter Three – Bad Thoughts. **

Still being carried by Glenn, Clementine surveyed her surroundings as she was taken into the prison. She was brought into what looked like the main room, which had a small table and chairs in the middle. Up against the walls there were shelves which had tins of food and half empty bottles of drinking water stacked upon them, _At least they have food…_she thought to herself. In one corner of the room she noticed a woman with really short hair cradling a baby, whilst feeding her a bottle.

"That's Carol" said Glenn as he nodded towards the woman "And the little ass-kicker is Judith"

"Swear…" Squeaked Clementine.

"Sorry…" said Glenn "Carol, this is Clementine. She's an old friend."

"Hi honey" smiled the lady as she continued to feed the baby.

"I'll take you to meet everyone later, but right now Maggie's dad is just gonna check you're not hurt. Is that okay?" asked Glenn as he placed her on one of the chairs.

Still feeling really venerable, she wasn't very sure about all of this. Still, she knew she was in a safe place, at least with one person she knows, so she knew she had to make a go of being friendly to all these new people. She remembered how Lee was always nice to new-comers in the group as to him; there was always safety in numbers. She knew all this, yet she still felt terrified.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked him shakily

"Yeah sure, if that's what you want."

Just then, Maggie came back, followed by an elderly man with one leg. She studied his face, thinking to herself that he looked familiar but she couldn't tell as the majority of his face was covered by a thick, white beard. The old man looked back at her and to her surprise; he smiled as if he knew her too.

"Well I'll be!" he beamed as he used his crutches to hobble over to where she was sitting "When Maggie said there was a pretty little girl called Clementine here, in my wildest dreams I'd never have thought it'd be you!"

Clementine, feeling a little startled, jumped from the seat and hid behind Glenn.

"You know her, Daddy?" gasped Maggie

"I sure do! Remember those people we had staying on the farm for a while? Before…your brother passed away…this little girl was one of them!"

Clementine remembered him now. He was Hershel, the man whose farm they stayed on the night after Lee had found her in her tree house. She also remembered how his son was killed by walkers when Duck trapped him under a tractor, which resulted in Hershel kicking them off of the farm. Remembering this, she felt a little unnerved around him so she gripped Glenn's hand for reassurance. Noticing how nervous she looked, Hershel smiled as if to try and make her feel more comfortable around him.

"I bet you remember me as that grumpy old man who yelled a lot, huh?" he chuckled softly

Clementine smiled slightly.

"You had two legs, then…" she said

"I see you and Glenn have got acquainted" he smiled as he noticed her holding Glenn's hand.

"He's my friend." She nodded

"We met back in Macon" added Glenn "I'm gonna look out for her until she's settled in"

"You're a lucky girl Clementine" Hershel said softly "He's a good guy who'll take good care of you but…where's Lee? Wasn't he supposed to be lookin' after you?"

Upon hearing Lee's name, grim images flashed through Clementine's mind. The stranger taking her and locking her in the closet, her witnessing her parents wandering the streets as Walkers, seeing Lee with only one arm handcuffed to a radiator and worst of all, her standing over him pointing a gun at his head and finally…the gun shot…

"You okay sweetie?" asked Maggie as she noticed the frail little girl begin to shiver.

"Clem?" Glenn nudged her shoulder gently trying to get her to respond "Clem, come on snap outta it"

Clementine didn't respond. She merely began tearing up and whimpering pitifully.

"Lee…" she whimpered as she began crying "Lee is…he's….he…"

Without warning, she burst into tears and started sobbing uncontrollably. Glenn, Maggie and Hershel sat and watched the child as the pin suddenly dropped, she'd been alone all this time. Clementine dropped to her knees in fits of seemingly endless floods of tears.

"He's dead! He's dead! HE'S DEAD!" she cried loudly, her voice breaking with sadness "He was bit and…and…I HAD TO DO IT! I DIDN'T WANT TO BUT I HAD TO!"

Without saying anything Glenn knelt down and pulled Clementine into another comforting hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and sobbed into his shirt.

"Ssh…I'm so sorry Clementine…" Glenn sighed sadly as he held her trembling little frame, all the while trying to hold his own tears back

"I didn't want to!" she sobbed once again "I just...couldn't let him be one of them!"

Glenn lifted her into his arms once again.

"Can't we just let her calm down first?" Glenn said to Hershel "Then check her over?"

"Glenn I would but… there are a lot of people here who might be a little un-nerved about having a new member of the group who hasn't had a full examination for any bites or scratches"

Glenn knew he was right. Ever since the Woodbury survivors joined up with them, the group became much more cautious about new members, mainly because there was more at stake with there being more children running around.

"Come on Clem…Hershel's kind of a doctor, he's just gonna check you're not hurt" said Glenn as he tried to put Clementine on the ground. She immediately tightened her grip on him.

"No!" she said firmly

"Clementine come on, darling" Hershel said softly as he tried to coax the terrified child away from Glenn "It'll be fine, I promise"

"NO!" she yelled, still holding on to Glenn for dear life.

Maggie moved towards her slowly and gently grabbed both her arms, trying to pull her away from Glenn.

"I'll stay with her." She said "I think her clinging to you is gonna make it harder."

"No!" cried Clementine "I wanna stay with Glenn!"

"It's alright sweetie" Maggie said softly as she managed to pull her away "You can after we take care of those nasty little scratches on your hand, it'll only take a minute."

"No! NO!" screamed Clementine as she kicked and waved her arms around "LET ME GO! GLENN! PLEASE!"

Seeing Clementine react in such a violently terrified way made Glenn feel horrible, but he knew Maggie was right, better safe than sorry.

"Clem it's okay, I'll see you again soon" he smiled as he gave her a reassuring smile but this did little to calm her down.

Hershel led Maggie and Clementine into one of the empty cells. Glenn stayed sat at the table with nobody but Carol and baby Judith in the room with him. All the time, he could hear Clementine screaming for him. Noticing the emotional toll it was taking on him, Carol decided to comfort her young friend.

"That little girl thinks the world of you" she smiled at him as she proceeded to pat Judith's back in an attempt to wind her.

"Nahr…" sighed Glenn as he rubbed the tears from his eyes "she's just scared…she hardly knows me…"

Judith gave a cute little burp, causing both adults to smile. Clementine's crying could still be heard echoing through the hallowed halls of the prison, causing Glenn to fret a little.

"I can see you think the world of her…" smiled Carol

"It's not that it's just…" tears began to fill his eyes again "when I left her and the others, she was so happy with Lee…he was a great guy and HE thought the world of her…and though he wasn't her dad she looked at him as if he was…and now she's all alone I…I just feel like I owe it to Lee to protect her just like he did…"

"You really are a good guy, Glenn" said Carol as she patted him on the shoulder "I think that sweet little girl would benefit from having you look after her."

Suddenly, the prison fell silent. Clementine's crying had ceased and Glenn could see Maggie walking back towards him. Feeling emotional, he rose to his feet and ran to Maggie and hugged her.

"Please tell me she's not bit…" he begged

"She's fine." Sighed Maggie as she returned his hug "She put up a fight but my dad managed to get some Band-Aids on those scratches and as far as we could see, there were no bites."

Glenn breathed a sigh of relief as he felt his knees buckle beneath him.

"Can I go see her?" He asked

"Yeah, of course" she smiled as she held his hand gently "come on."

Maggie led Glenn into a cell where Clementine was curled up on the bed, silently sobbing to herself. He said nothing, he simply sat on the end of the bed and gently pulled her towards him. She lay her head on his knees and Glenn began to stroke her hair.

"I…I just want the bad thoughts to stop…" she sobbed quietly

"It's okay…" he shushed softly "I'm here Clem…I'll take care of you…I promise."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry its been a while since my last upload guys :/ College getting in the way again…anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for reading and leaving such nice reviews so far :)**


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